Festival’s "Fundamentally Flawed" Plan Led To Drowning

More details have emerged of an inquest into the drowning of a 34-year-old Irish tourist at Sydney's Vivid Festival in 2014, with assessors claiming the event's risk plan was "fundamentally flawed".

In September, findings were released that showed the festival was unprepared for Brendan Hickey falling into Cockle Bay while heavily intoxicated later into the night.

Further findings have now been released that detail event organisers Concept Entertainment Group’s risk assessment didn’t take into account the water’s open edge as a potential hazard, as ABC reports.

The new details see Deputy State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan call for independent review of risk assessment and management for events.

"The CEG Risk Assessment 2014 and the CEG Risk Assessment 2015 were fundamentally flawed," O'Sullivan told ABC.

"Critically, the CEG Risk Assessment 2014 did not identify the risk to patrons presented by the open water's edge of Cockle Bay and as a consequence, did not assess the need, if any, for controls to be put in place to eliminate, isolate or reduce that risk."

While CEG has made some alterations to their current risk assessment and risk management processes, O'Sullivan said the underlying weaknesses had yet to be addressed.